Biographical/historical information

Playwright and author S. N. (Samuel Nathaniel) Behrman was born in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1893. He was the youngest of three sons raised by Lithuanian immigrants in the heart of Worcester's Jewish community on Providence Street. An older sister was killed in a streetcar accident during her childhood. The family lived in a tenement which Behrman later mused was "heavily populated with angels," their imaginary presence invoked by the Hebrew prayers of his father, a devout, scholarly man who spent long hours studying the Talmud. As a boy, the precocious Behrman was befriended and mentored by Daniel Asher, a young man six or seven years his senior whom he met through one of his brothers. Under Asher's tutelage, Behrman became a prize-winning leader of his high school debate team. Asher introduced his protégé to the theatre, critiqued his earliest attempts at writing and encouraged him to pursue a literary career.

From 1912-1914, Behrman attended Clark College, where his first essays, short stories and dramatic sketches were published in the student literary magazine. In a 1914 piece entitled "Psychology and the New Philosophy of the Theatre," Behrman praised the work of George Bernard Shaw and Henrik Ibsen, and called for a "progressive ... theatre of ideas." At Daniel Asher's suggestion, Behrman transferred to Harvard College to study drama with George Pierce Baker. He was awarded a B.A. degree in 1916, then moved to New York City where his brothers worked as accountants. They supported him financially while he attended Columbia University and studied French drama under the distinguished Brander Matthews. As Behrman neared the completion of his M.A. degree in the spring of 1918, he was offered a position as English instructor at the University of Minnesota, but turned the job down. He chose to remain in New York to establish himself as a writer.

During the late 1910s, Behrman's short stories and criticism appeared in such magazines as The Seven Arts, The Liberator, The New Republic and The Smart Set. He penned dozens of book reviews for The New York Times, where he worked briefly in the classified advertising department and later as an assistant editor of the book section. Early in 1920, Behrman was sent by the Times to interview the British poet Siegfried Sassoon, then visiting New York on a reading tour. Behrman was deeply moved by Sassoon's passion for literature and by the strong moral sensibility evidenced in his war poems. The two writers spent a great deal of time together while Sassoon was in New York, and they corresponded for many years afterwards. When Behrman later visited England, it was Sassoon who introduced him into intellectual circles that profoundly influenced his writing, advanced his career and enriched his personal life. Behrman's European acquaintances and friends included authors W. Somerset Maugham and Osbert Sitwell; Lydia Keynes, the former ballerina and wife of John Maynard Keynes; and society doyenne Sibyl Colefax.

Through most of the 1920s, Behrman worked in relative obscurity in the midst of the vibrant New York theatre scene. He collaborated on short stories and plays with his friend and occasional roommate Kenyon Nicholson. Their material was frequently published and staged (sometimes under the pen-name Paul Halvy), though to little acclaim. Through Nicholson, Behrman formed a lasting professional association with Harold Freedman, head of the theatre department of the Brandt & Brandt literary agency. He also worked for a time as the press agent of Broadway producer Jed Harris. Behrman stayed in touch with his old friend Daniel Asher, who continued to provide insightful criticism of his work and to profess unequivocal faith in his talent. In August of 1926, as Behrman and playwright Owen Davis put finishing touches to their collaborative work The Man Who Forgot, Asher insisted, with remarkable prescience, that the day was close at hand "when you will work with surging vigor and audacity and the great artistry in you will no longer be denied."

The following spring, Behrman's comedy The Second Man was staged by the Theatre Guild, an important venue for new American drama. The company's acclaimed leading lights, Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, starred in this successful production which firmly established the playwright's reputation. Based on a short story Behrman had written years before, The Second Man concerns a hack writer faced with a romantic choice between a wealthy woman who supports him financially and a beautiful younger woman who adores him. This portrait of a character in a state of indecision was praised by critics for its cultured, witty dialog and its subtle insight into human psychology. After a six-month New York run, the play toured the United States and was later staged in London with Noël Coward in the lead role.

Behrman followed The Second Man with a string of sophisticated comedies that illuminated the morals, manners and foibles of urbane intellectuals. These included Serena Blandish (1928) with Ruth Gordon in the title role; Brief Moment (1931) with a cameo appearance by drama critic Alexander Woollcott; Biography (1933) starring Ina Claire; End of Summer (1936), also with Claire; and No Time for Comedy (1939) featuring Katherine Cornell and Laurence Olivier. In these popular works, Behrman aimed for a nuanced depiction of the psychological development of his main characters as they strove to achieve worldly success or to find love. In such later plays as I Know My Love (1949) and But For Whom Charlie (1964), Behrman developed an additional theme of the conflict between generations. He rarely set his plays outside of the drawing-rooms of intellectuals and the wealthy, but when he did enlarge his purview he achieved notable success. Fanny (1954), an adaptation (which Behrman co-authored with Joshua Logan) of several of Marcel Pagnol's bawdy seaport stories had a run of more than 800 performances. The Cold Wind and the Warm (1958) drew on experiences from Behrman's youth in Worcester.

During the 1930s and '40s, Behrman spent considerable time in Hollywood, where he wrote or collaborated on numerous screenplays, including Tess of the Storm Country (1932), Anna Karenina (1935) and Waterloo Bridge (1940). He was respected in the movie industry for his sensitive adaptations of literary classics and for his sparkling dialog. Among his friends and colleagues during his Hollywood years were Harpo Marx, Greta Garbo, Salka Viertel and screenwriter Sonya Levien. Back in New York, Behrman was closely associated with dramatists Maxwell Anderson, Sidney Howard, Elmer Rice and Robert E. Sherwood. In 1938 this group established The Playwrights' Company to stage their own work as well as the plays of other authors. Behrman served for awhile as President of the organization, but later resigned his membership over creative differences.

On June 20, 1936, Behrman was married to Elza Heifetz Stone, the recently divorced sister of the famed violinist Jascha Heifetz. A son, Arthur David, was born to the couple the following year, and Behrman became stepfather to two children from his wife's previous marriage. By this time his social set included many prominent actors and actresses, editors, publishers and Hollywood producers. Though he once remarked that he hated to write letters, he nonetheless conducted a broad correspondence with such renowned figures as art critic Bernard Berenson; writer F. Tennyson Jesse; U. S. Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter; lyricist Ira Gershwin; and philosopher Isaiah Berlin. During the 1930s and '40s Behrman wrote numerous letters on behalf of European Jews fleeing Nazi terror and sought to win them entry into the United States.

Throughout his long and prolific career, Behrman continued to write short stories, essays, and criticism. Many of his penetrating biographical sketches, which first appeared in The New Yorker, were eventually collected and published as books. These volumes include Duveen (1952), a portrait of the art dealer Joseph Duveen, Baron of Millbank; The Worcester Account (1954), a collection of poignant autobiographical essays centered on the Providence Street of Behrman's youth; Portrait of Max (1960), about the writer and caricaturist Max Beerbohm; and The Suspended Drawing Room (1965) on subjects ranging from the physician Emanuel Libman to the Hungarian dramatist Ferenc Molnar. Behrman's final dramatic work, But For Whom Charlie, was staged in New York in 1964, but received poor reviews. He subsequently focused most of his energy on narrative prose, producing a loosely autobiographical novel, The Burning Glass (1968), as well as introductions to anthologies of Horatio Alger stories and old articles from The Smart Set. Behrman spent his last years mining the meticulous diaries he had kept since college, resulting in the memoir People In A Diary (1972).

Behrman's important contributions to American culture were acknowledged through his induction into the National Institute of Arts and Letters (1943); the award of an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from Clark University (1949); election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1959); and his appointment to the Board of Trustees of Clark University (1962). S. N. Behrman died in New York City on September 9, 1973.

Scope and arrangement

The S. N. Behrman Papers document the literary career and personal life of the playwright and essayist. The date span of the papers is 1912-1987. They include personal and professional correspondence; diaries; notebooks, manuscripts, typescripts, galley proofs and publication tearsheets of Behrman's writings; news clippings; scrapbooks; photographs; and a few items of ephemera. The S. N. Behrman Papers are an important resource for the study of the American theatre, the early years of the Hollywood film industry, popular magazine literature and New York intellectual culture. Important figures represented in Behrman's correspondence files include: Maxwell Anderson, Brooks Atkinson, Bernard Berenson, Isaiah Berlin, Edna Ferber, Felix Frankfurter, Ira Gershwin, Sonya Levien, Joshua Logan, W. Somerset Maugham, Cole Porter, Joseph Verner Reed, Gottfried Reinhardt, Siegfried Sassoon, Robert E. Sherwood, Rebecca West, Katharine White and Edmund Wilson. Behrman's hand-written diaries span his entire career, and provide insights on his personal life, his professional relations and his working methods. The papers include thousands of news clippings about Behrman, including reviews of his writings, biographical portraits and interviews. These items provide a measure of the critical response to Behrman's work throughout his long career. At the heart of the collection are thousands of pages of notebooks, manuscripts, typescripts, galley proofs, and publication tearsheets of the writings of S. N. Behrman. Highlights include: manuscripts and tearsheets of Behrman's earliest published essays and book reviews from the 1910s; drafts of several of Behrman's early collaborations with Kenyon Nicholson; notebooks, manuscripts and corrected typescripts for important plays including Serena Blandish, No Time for Comedy, and But For Whom Charlie; manuscripts and tearsheets of Behrman's numerous contributions to The New Yorker; holograph manuscripts, corrected typescripts and galley proofs of his late novel The Burning Glass and his memoir People In A Diary.

S. N. Behrman's correspondence files contain incoming and outgoing letters, postcards and telegrams which document the playwright's professional activities and personal life. The files are arranged alphabetically by the name of the correspondent, organization and in a few cases by topical heading. While the bulk of the correspondence dates from 1930-1973, there are some important items from Behrman's earlier career. These include: letters from various publishers and editors regarding short stories written during the 1910s and '20s, correspondence with such friends and colleagues as Kenyon Nicholson and Siegfried Sassoon, and a few letters from Behrman's childhood mentor Daniel Asher. Manuscripts of poems and a novella by Siegfried Sassoon are also included in this series. As Behrman achieved success in the late 1920s and '30s, the circle of his correspondence widened to include many renowned figures in the arts and letters. Among the most prominent were critics Brooks Atkinson, St. Clair McKelway and Alexander Woollcott; editors Harold Ross and Katharine White; playwrights Maxwell Anderson and Robert E. Sherwood; authors Edna Ferber, F. Tennyson Jesse and Jesse's husband and collaborator Harold Harwood, W. Somerset Maugham and Maugham's secretary and companion Alan Searle, and Edmund Wilson; lyricists and composers Cole Porter, Ira Gershwin and Kurt Weill; philosopher Isaiah Berlin; and U. S. Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter. During the 1930s and '40s Behrman wrote numerous letters (filed in this series under "Refugees from Europe") on behalf of European Jews fleeing Nazi terror and sought to win them entry into the United States. In later years, Behrman exchanged letters with Bernard Berenson, Richard A. Cordell, Alfred and Blanche Knopf and Rebecca West. Behrman also corresponded with many important figures from the theatre and film worlds, including George S. Kaufman, Joshua Logan, Sonya Levien (whose letters are filed with those of her husband, Carl Hovey), Laurence Olivier, Harpo Marx, Joseph Verner Reed, Gottfried Reinhardt and Salka Viertel. Additional letters documenting Behrman's work in the film industry are contained in the "Hollywood studios" folders filed in this series. Financial and business concerns connected with all of Behrman's literary projects are discussed in great detail in his correspondence with the Brandt & Brandt agency, and with Harold Freedman. Those interested in the critical response to Behrman's writings will find useful information in the hundreds of fan letters Behrman received over the years, interfiled in this series alphabetically by the title of the work concerned. Finally, there is some editorial and production correspondence regarding several of Behrman's works, also interfiled alphabetically by title.

From 1916, when he was a student at Harvard, until the end of his life, S. N. Behrman faithfully kept a diary. The pages of these spiral or paper-bound notebooks are filled with entries made in a small hand that is often difficult to read, but which provide fascinating insights on the author's artistry and his personal life. The diaries chronicle Behrman's professional associations, the development of literary themes, the writing and production of plays, as well as his travels, friendships and family affairs. Significant events recorded in the diaries include the beginning of his friendship with English poet Siegfried Sassoon (Box 28, Folder 2), the New York production of his first successful play, The Second Man (Box 28, Folder 10), his reaction to the suicide of his childhood friend and mentor Daniel Asher (Box 28, Folder 13), his marriage to Elza Heiftetz Stone (Box 29, Folder 4), and the last weeks of his life (Box 34, Folder 5).

Documents and artifacts contained in this small series include: awards and diplomas received by Behrman; publications relating to the Harvard College class of 1916; promotional materials and programs for many of Behrman's plays; lists of books read by the author; meeting minutes and a program of the Playwrights' Company; copies of manuscripts written by authors other than S. N. Behrman.

This series is composed of three large boxes and ten scrapbook volumes containing news clippings and promotional materials regarding Behrman's plays, films and publications; tearsheets of many of his short stories and books reviews; biographical portraits and interviews of the playwright. This material provides an excellent view of the critical response to Behrman's writings throughout his prolific career. The months immediately following the production of his first successful play, The Second Man, are particularly well-documented. Also of great importance are two scrapbooks (Boxes 41, 42) containing hundreds of book reviews written by Behrman for The New York Times and other publications during 1916-1918. The vast majority of these early critical pieces are not included in the Writings series of the S. N. Behrman Papers. However, all of the tearsheets of Behrman short stories contained in the scrapbook in Box 43 are represented in Series VI, where they are filed individually by title.

This small group of black and white and color photoprints includes images of S. N. Behrman's friends and colleagues; actors and actresses who appeared in his plays; street scenes of Worcester MA; and miscellaneous images related to research for various writing projects. Photographs of Carl Hovey, Sonya Levien and Siegfried Sassoon, found among Behrman's correspondence with these close friends, have been moved to this series where they are filed by name. Unfortunately there is no good portrait of the camera-shy Behrman. A few pictures of the playwright do appear, however, in several of the news clippings contained in Series IV.

This series contains published and unpublished writings of S. N. Behrman from all phases of his long and varied career. The material is arranged alphabetically by the title of the work, when known. Included are holograph manuscripts and typescripts of plays; holograph manuscripts, edited typescripts, galley proofs and tearsheets of essays and short stories; notebooks; and several folders of unidentified manuscripts and fragments. The wide range of materials available for certain of Behrman's works enables the reader to track their development from their initial conception to their final publication or production. A few folders contain correspondence, news clippings and printed material gathered by Behrman in the course of his research for the project concerned. Behrman's early years are especially well-documented by manuscripts included in this series. Several "College essays" folders (Boxes 61, 62) contain dozens of short pieces written during 1912-1916 while Behrman was a student at Clark College and at Harvard. Most of these items are annotated and graded by his instructors. Also included are publication tearsheets of many of Behrman's earliest short stories from the late-1910s and 1920s, filed by title and identifiable in the Container List by date. Many of these pieces were written in collaboration with Kenyon Nicholson, and several are ascribed to the pseudonymous Paul Halvy. Readers particularly interested in Behrman's formative years should also consult two scrapbooks (Boxes 41, 42) included in Series V which contain clippings of book reviews written by Behrman for The New York Times and other periodicals from 1917-1919. The Writings series also includes a strong representation of works from Behrman's mature period, including: holograph manuscripts of such major plays as Serena Blandish, No Time for Comedy, and The Talley Method; research notes, drafts, galley proofs and tearsheets of several autobiographical essays first published in The New Yorker and later compiled to form The Worcester Account; notebooks and edited typescripts of Behrman's late prose works The Burning Glass and People In A Diary. Unfortunately, there is no manuscript of his first successful play, The Second Man. There is, however, a typescript and publication tearsheet of the 1919 short story, "That Second Man," (Box 82, Folder 6) upon which the play was based.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

The S. N. Behrman Papers were purchased by the Manuscripts and Archives Division of The New York Public Library from David Behrman, son of the playwright, on October 13, 1998. An additional holograph manuscript of a novella by Behrman's friend Siegfried Sassoon was purchased from David Behrman in November, 2001. One folder of correspondence between S. N. Behrman and Max Bruell, previously acquired by the Manuscripts and Archives Division through a 1989 donation from Mr. and Mrs. Frederick M. Bruell, has been interfiled in the collection (see Box 4 Folder 1). Finally, one box of photographs, miscellaneous papers and ephemera loaned by Elza Behrman, wife of the playwright, to the New York Public Library Theatre Division in 1976 for an exhibition was transferred to the Manuscripts and Archives Division in October 1998 and has been interfiled in the collection.